(a) Field of Invention
The present invention relates to looseleaf binder assemblies and more particularly to a two-piece looseleaf binder assembly.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Looseleaf binder rings and binder assemblies are formed in a variety of configurations; the most typical being the conventional metal binder ring assembly utilizing a spring and a cam mechanism for holding the metal ring in the open and closed positions. Such assemblies are relatively complex to manufacture and therefore are relatively expensive. As a standard, looseleaf paper is manufactured primarily with three (3) holes to fit in a standard three (3) ring binder. With continued use the paper tends to pullout of the binder since the area around the holes in the paper will pull or rip out with continued use. The pullout problem can be improved by increasing the number of rings in the binder but this would add to the expense of the binder. Others have tried to reduce the cost of the metal binders by making a three (3) ring binder out of plastic. Two such patents are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,954,343 and 4,130,368. Instead of making the binders less complex and therefore less expensive, a complex cam mechanism must be used in each case to open and close rings of the above patents. In addition, the same problem exists with these inventions that exists with the three (3) ring metal binders. That is, with continued use, the paper would also rip or tear out at the hole areas.
A type of binder exists that has multiple resilient fingers which are manufactured from flat plastic stock. The paper is also punched with rectangular holes that fit the flat plastic fingers. This type of binding is called a "binding comb" and can be purchased from several manufacturers such as General Binding Corp., Northbrook, Ill. and Speed-O-Print Co., Chicago, Ill., who also manufacture the punch press and the release device for the specific binding comb. This binder is used for reports where the looseleaf pages are not to be readily removable, however, due to the multiple fingers, the pullout problem is greatly improved. It should be noted that this binder does require the use of hand or machine operated release device that opens all the fingers simultaneously while the pages are being fed on the fingers. If one does not have a release device readily available, it is almost impossible to insert a page or remove a page from a report with this type of binder.
The present invention also uses multiple fingers and therefore the pullout problem is greatly improved. In addition, with the present invention a special device is not required to release the fingers to add or remove the pages of a report.